A Disadvantage

On my hike down from Dobbins Lookout, I made a point of looking at the environment more carefully, to look for things I missed on the way up.

At Dobbins Lookout I got the above picture from inside the building.

There was this pile of rocks, with a hole near the center, where the trail made a turn. Two female hikers stopped and looked at it and commented that it would make a nice picture to go up and sit in the hole and have your picture taken. An interesting perspective.

I thought it interesting to see these three flat rocks standing on their edge next to the trail.

It was the above picture that really caught my attention. Sometime in the past a seed gave up its life as it took root and became a tree in the rocky soil. The seed had no choice in the location, but it was given a chance to produce a tree. Conditions were favorable enough to give it a start on life and it struggled to make the best of the conditions and gradually grew along the path. As you look at it you can't help but think of how different life would have been for that tree if that seed had been planted in some nursery and the tree cared for and then transplanted in some nice subdivision. It sure makes a difference where life begins.

As I hiked on down the trail, I kept thinking about that tree and its disadvantage. Then my thoughts shifted to people. How would my life be different if I had been born and lived in a poor section of let us say India. Would my life not be more like that tree than if I were born where I was in a nice location. The tree lacks food and water and struggles just to stay alive. So do the poor that live in many parts of the world. Provide nutrients and water for the tree and see what happens. Provide some help for the poor and see what happens. Drilling a well can provide clean water. Providing good seed and good farming practices can provide food. Medicine can improve health. Education on how to live wisely can help so much, but like the tree along the trail we walk by and let it cope with life by itself. Think about investing your life in a child of disadvantage with World Vision. How might that child you help change the world? How can you make a difference in the life of someone else?